The New Five Doctors
by The Soulless Author
Summary: Drawn by a recall signal from a mysterious person from the future, the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Doctors and their companions must band together to save her. But not everything is as it seems, and what was supposed to be a rescue mission would soon turn into a fight for the future, that will lead the Doctors to face an old foe.
1. Chapter 1

"Well, that's another happy ending if I do say so myself!" the joyful voice of the Doctor reverberated throughout the control room of the TARDIS as he strode right through the front doors towards the desktop control panel.

Behind him, his companions Rose Tyler the ever-so-enigmatic Jack Harkness followed close behind as they entered the police box that was ever as usual bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.

As he started going to work on the primary controls, the Doctor added in, "And to think it would've taken quite a while for a family to adopt Margaret the Slitheen."

"I can still see the eagerness in the eyes of Jingatheen family," Jack commented wistfully with a grin, "They were practically begging us to give Margaret to 'em."

"Ah, they were just a normal family looking for something special to do," the Doctor stated with a chuckle and rang the call bell on the desktop three times, "And besides, they still have to wait for a couple of months before they can start raising Margaret properly."

From Jack, his eyes darted over to Rose… and that was when his smile quickly faded from his face.

There was something off about the blonde female that he had been sensing for quite a while, especially since they saved the Earth from being destroyed by the Rift.

Throughout the entire time that they had spent on Raxacoricofallapatorius, not once had he heard Rose say anything at all. Even though he had been conversing with Jack all the while, the Doctor had noticed that she had never jumped into their conversations. Not even a grunt for a response.

And now he could finally see why it was so; Rose had a crestfallen look that had crossed her facial features. Her eyelids were drooped in a way as though she had been crying for a long while, and her posture appeared much more reserved and quieter.

Stepping away from the console for a moment, he turned fully in her direction, a look of concern on his face.

"Rose?" he asked her in a soft tone.

The answer was silence and no reaction at all from the blonde.

_"Dwelling in her own thoughts from the looks of it,"_ the Doctor deduced mentally.

Clearing his throat slightly, he asked again in faintly louder tone, "Rose?"

This time, there was a response, but not the one that he was expecting. With a sniff of her nose and a lonely tear dropping down her cheek, Rose started to break down into sobs.

Almost immediately, the Doctor was at her side, and he had a look of genuine sadness on his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked her in a comforting tone.

Rose gazed up to him with slightly reddened eyes and quickly shook her head.

"N-No…" she mumbled out softly, "… No…"

Coming up beside the Doctor, Jack asked her, "What's the matter? Was there something that we said just now? If there was then I'm so terribly sorry that-"

"I don't that's it," the Doctor cut him off with glance to the time agent, and then back to the still-sobbing Rose.

"I think it's something else."

For a moment, there was no more than silence that hung about the trio, and the Doctor was not liking it one tiny bit. If Rose was now crying all of a sudden, it would probably be due to what happened during when they were fighting to save Earth from Margaret.

And then after a minute or so, Rose finally broke the silence.

"It's about Mickey…" she croaked out despondently.

And that was about it for the Doctor to understand what was going on. He needed no more verbal information just to get a grasp on what Rose was going through.

"I understand…" he acknowledged with a slow nod of his head, "He thinks that you've been spending too much time with me."

With a slow sigh, he added in, "Well, I guess I can't fault him for assuming things like that."

"It's natural," Jack agreed knowingly, "It's always been in our DNA as men to grow jealous over those who are hanging out with our gals."

Wiping away a few tears from her cheeks, Rose spoke up, "I think I n-need a little… break… from all this excitement…"

The Doctor's lips were pursed, but only for a brief moment to not be noticed. As much as he was loathe to admit it himself, Rose was right.

Without a shadow of a doubt, the blonde had been spending much more time with him than with Mickey and her mother Jackie, ever since he walked into her life and she welcomed herself into his world. And at times when they do return to Rose's time to visit the pair, the Doctor could sense an aura of strain in their relationships.

It was as though Rose was growing further apart from her loved ones with every adventure that she goes with him through time and space.

And the source of the problem? Well, it was not hard to answer at all.

It was because of the Doctor himself.

It was thanks to him that travelling through time, visiting new worlds had opened Rose's eyes to a much wider universe, and yet it was also thanks to him that her interactions with Jackie and Mickey were becoming less frequent. There was always going to be pros and cons when it came to travelling alongside the Doctor, and it was clear that the cons were weighing heavily on Rose's shoulders.

With a deep breath, he made his decision.

"I suppose you could do with some vacation time back on Earth," he muttered out as he turned on his heels and walked back over to the control panel, "I bet Jackie would be thrilled to catch up on some mother-daughter time."

Wiping away one final tear, Rose managed a small smile of gratefulness.

"Thank you," she said softly.

The Doctor acknowledged her thanks with a short nod before he started working on the controls again. Not a second later and Jack joined him to assist calibrating the flight path of the TARDIS.

But just then however, the TARDIS buzzer alarm went off, and the interior lights began flashing red all over.

With an exasperated groan, the Doctor hollered out, "Not now, girl! Can't you see that I'm busy at the moment?"

The alarms continued to blare out, and the Doctor grumbled with a shake of his head.

"What's going on?" Rose asked anxiously, her eyes darting around to the lights as they continued flashing red, "What's happening, Doctor?"

"I can chance a guess," Jack called out from his side of the desktop, his eyes gazing over to the monitor screen, "We're picking up something on the signal sensors!"

Raising an eyebrow at this, the Doctor rushed over to the monitor to take a better look at the information displayed on the screen. All at once, the alarms went silent and the red flashes had ceased.

To this, the Doctor simply glared at the interior walls and muttered, "We really need to figure things out, love."

Getting back onto analysing the data on the monitor, the Doctor took notice of the wavy line that danced messily.

"Mmm hmm. Just as I thought," he stated, "A distress signal."

Rose and Jack came up on either of his sides to take a peek at the monitor.

"But I don't think we need to worry about this one," the Doctor exclaimed with a grin, "The way the wave line moves is akin to how a child messes with his dad's computer."

"You certain there's nothing more to it than just an erratic wave line?" Jack questioned, his brows furrowed in a look of doubt.

The Doctor waved him off, "Oh, of course not! If the intensity of the wave line was really erratic, then it would probably looked as though it was trying to jump out of my monitor screen!"

Rose stared in silence at the monitor, before her eyes began to widen just a few seconds later.

"Y-You mean... like that?" she asked worriedly, an index finger pointed directly at the screen.

The Doctor looked at the area of the wave line that she was pointing at, and then he noticed that something was off about it. The way the wave was curving upwards and downwards in a cycling pattern, and the way that the ripples were in-sync with the groaning and wheezing sounds that his TARDIS was making _right now._

The Doctor's pair of hearts sunk a little, a look of dread crossing his features.

Somehow, he thought the signal pattern... familiar.

"Doctor?" Rose spoke up softly to him once she had caught notice of his dramatic change in mood, "I-Is there something wrong?"

"No Rose," the Doctor replied back, a tone of grimness felt in his voice, and his head shaking slowly as though he was trying to deny something, "There's nothing wrong - but there is something that is going on."

Jack raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Isn't that like saying the same thing?"

"Depends on your definition of something that's happening," the Doctor stated nonchalantly, "But this right here, is a really grave _something_."

"And why would you say that?" Rose asked, a look of wariness slowy forming on her face.

Fate truly was a bitch when it throws something in front of you just as you were about to get something you want.

"Because this signal..." the Doctor said and pointed a finger at the wave graph on his monitor, "... is no ordinary distress beacon."

"And it's not ordinary in the sense that...?" Jack questioned, looking rather muddled by the Time Lord's explanation.

The Doctor eyed him, seriousness written all over his face. "Because it is exclusive to the TARDIS."

Ignoring the looks that his companions were giving him, the Doctor wasted no time in scrambling over to the controls and began punching in new coordinates.

"Sorry Rose but looks like Family Day will have to wait," he apologised curtly, "If one of my other selves is in deep trouble to even be calling out for help, then I can't refuse to answer it."

Rose stared at him blankly, "What do you mean you other-"

She was cut off mid-sentence as the TARDIS began lurching sharply, and she was thrown off-balance from the force of the shaking. As the ship stabilised itself and sped off on a new trajected course, Jack ran over to help her to her feet. Both then proceeded to watch as the Doctor continued to do what he did best in steering the TARDIS, while also at the same time wondering what in the world had gotten the Time Lord so worked up all of a sudden. Before they could open their mouths and ask, the TARDIS came to a stop.

"Righty-o! We are here!" the Doctor declared as he took a step back from the console.

"And where exactly is "here"?" Rose asked him.

"4.2 light years from Earth, in the star system Sierra," said the Doctor as he sauntered over to the door, with his companions following close at his heels.

From the door, the trio emerged into a word that was as barren as the deserts of Mars. There was no life out here, no trees, grass, not a speck of green. No animals that roam the vastness of the land. And the sky was just as dull as the surface was. The only natural phenomenon this planet had to offer was a dust storm that blew in full force from the side of the trio.

"Well um..." the Doctor hacked and coughed forcefully from the dust filled his throat, "Not quite the fairy tale appeal that I imagined!"

Rose instinctively shut her eyes and held out her hands to shield away from the howling winds.

"It's not safe out here!" she exclaimed out loud, "We'd better sit this one out until it calms, Doctor!"

"I'm with Rose on this one Doc!" Jack called out, "We'd be going in blind into this storm!"

At their suggestions, the Doctor looked back at them, allowing them both to see that insane twinkling in his eyes.

"If this were any normal circumstance, I would've agreed!" he stated, "But there's someone out there that's in dire need of my aid!"

"And who is this someone that you're rambling about?!" Rose questioned him.

The Doctor stared on ahead into the thickness of the dust storm.

"Sometimes it's best to act first, and ask questions later!" he replied ecstatically, "Besides, I've walked through tougher storms in the Fall of Gyza!"

And with that, he started marching off further from the TARDIS, away into the storm.

"Doctor, wait! Are you insane?!" Rose cried out in shock and alarm, surprised that the Doctor would be crazy enough to pull of a dangerous stunt like that.

With a loud sigh of amused annoyance, Jack turned and head on back inside the police box.

Rose spun on him swiftly, stupefied at her friend's departure.

"Where're you going?!" she demanded, "The Doctor's out there all by himself, and you're just gonna bloody let him?!"

Jack returned to the doors a couple of minutes later, his usual cocky grin on his face.

"Relax Rose! We ain't gonna abandon the good Doctor like that!" he assured her, "Just need to dress up for the part first!"

He handed her one of three gas masks that he managed to find in the storage room.

Quickly donning their own masks and third in Rose's hands, the pair raced back outside into the hazy blindess of the storm. Trudging on blindly for a couple of metres, they were slowly becoming convinced that they might have strayed too far to become lost.

But that was when they noticed a familiar figure in the haze; he was apparently starting to feel the full force of the storm itself.

"You ever wonder if the Doc has days when his own words comes back bite 'im?" Jack commented.

Rose shook her head in irritation, "I think on that every single day. Come on!"

They carefully made their way over to the Doctor, who by now was down by one knee, buckling heavily from the immense pressure of the ensuing storm. He was just about to give out, when he spotted his duo companions approaching him.

An exasperated frown on his face, he chided, "Fat lot of time you two took!"

"Don't twist this 'round on us! You're the one who charged head-first into a bloody sandstorm!" Rose snapped back irritatingly.

Sometimes she even wondered how she could manage to put up with all of the alien's antics.

"I admire your craziness Doc, but I know a rash act when I see one," Jack stated with a shrug and handed him the third gas mask.

"I don't need a gas mask!" the Doctor growled frustratingly, but he took the mask anyway, "What I need is a signal to hone in on!"

He slid on his mask and then reached into the inner pocket of his leather jacket. He lifted his sonic screwdriver into the air and began buzzing the area all around him.

After a few seconds he groaned in disappointment.

"Not a trace of anything out here," he muttered with a head shake.

"Doctor..." Rose spoke up from beside him, now acting more calm than just now, "I beg you. Let's go back to the TARDIS first and wait for the storm to pass. We can go exploring for your missing "someone" later. Alright?"

The Doctor's first instinct was to protest, but then through her own mask, he could the pleading look in her eyes. Almost immediately his attitude softened, and the more rational part of his mind came into play. It was telling him to listen to her advice, to trust in her. Doing something like this too soon would prove disastrous should they even continue.

With a long sigh, the Doctor relented, "Fine. Let's head on back. Bloody storm's not my kind of playground anyways."

"But we're still stuck out here Doctor," Jack pointed out and gestured to the environment around them, "How the hell are we gonna get to the TARDIS in this mess?"

The Doctor sported a a wide grin, "Oh ye of little faith, Jacky boy!"

He turned his attention to his screwdriver and started fumbling with it. Noticing this, Rose questioned, "What're you doing?"

"Just doing a bit of reconfiguring," came a curt reply, "Setting my sonic to scan for TARDIS-centric frequencies. Just a turn here and a kink there... And there we go!"

He lifted it high into the air and began scanning the area again. This time after a while, his grin widened ever wider, if that was even possible.

"Bingo! I've found her!" he exclaimed joyously then gestured with his head at his companions, "Come on!"

He happily sauntered off, and Rose and Jack exchanged amused glances before heading off after him.

The trio continued on their way back towards the TARDIS, with the Doctor's screwdriver pinpointing the way like a sonar. Minutes of trekking later, and they finally spotted the police box off in the distance.

"Ha ha! There she is, the old girl!" the Doctor laughed then turned to Rose and Jack, "See? What did I tell you?"

"And here I thought the thing of your was only good for that buzzing noise," Jack joked with a smirk.

The Doctor whirled on him with a defensive look. "Oi! You're one to talk! If you had a sonic of your own it can do amazing things! I'd bet you'd be willing to keep this on your person for the rest of your days!"

Rose looked on between the two of them, appalled that they were doing this now.

"Alright that's enough you two!" she scolded them in way that her own mother would with her when she was very naughty, "You're not little boys in kindergarten, okay? You're grown men, so start acting like it!"

With a final huff, she stalked off towards the TARDIS, ignorant of both Jack and the Doctor staring at her with wide-eyed expressions.

"Behold, the second Jackie Tyler..." the Doctor muttered under his breath in bafflement.

"Girl does know her stuff..." Jack concurred with a slow nod.

As they began following after Rose, she had just arrived at the door of the TARDIS. But just as she started stretching out her hand towards the door, she froze.

It could be the storm or a trick from the light, but she swore that the police box appeared somewhat... different. She shook that thought from her head quickly. Anything that was to do with the Doctor would always seem weird.

Pushing the TARDIS door open, Rose took her frist steps inside of it. And then her eyes gradually widened, frozen and stunned by the interior before her. She was so shocked in fact that she barely even acknowledge the Doctor and Jack coming up from behind her outside.

The Doctor took one pause before the entrance and took a good look at his beloved space box. He too realised that something was off.

"My TARDIS didn't look this clean before..." he muttered to himself in confusion. And then he noticed the info plate at the front, and his brows furrowed even more.

What was supposed to be white with black fonts, was now the very opposite. Black with white-coloured words.

He reached over and traced his fingers over the surfacr of the plate, a look of horror crossing his face.

"What the hell has happened to my TARDIS?"

"Um... Doc?" Jack called out from inside; he had went in to ask Rose what was happening until he too saw the interior.

Frowning in suspicion at his sudden change in tone, the Doctor marched over inside and saw his two human friends just standing there, as if they were suddenly frozen in time.

"What's the matter with you two all of a sudden?" he questioned with a hint of growing concern in his voice, "Why, it's like you've just seen the big inside..."

He trailed off as his blue eyes finally registered the interior as well.

"... for the first time... ever..." he finished with a gaping mouth.

Now he was really starting to get stupefied and horrified at the same time. The TARDIS had changed! His beloved desktop scheme of coral designs and tree-like columns were all gone! Everything was new and different!

The walls were made of non-connected hexagons containing a cog-like pattern. There were also a few blue lights in the walls, along with a hexagonal monitor. The console itself no longer has time rotor, replaced by a giant crystal. Six other crystals were formed around the console.

"Okay... not what I was expecting..." Jack murmured softly, as equally baffled as the Doctor was.

"What happened?" the Doctor questioned out loud and he stormed over to the console itself. H

e was surprised that even all the controls were different. Looking up to the central giant crystal that was now supposed to be the rotor, he asked, "What's happened to you, old girl?"

A reverberating hum chimed throughout the control room, as though the TARDIS itself was responding to its flyer.

The Doctor blinked once and twice before uttering out, "W-What do you mean "it's been a long while"? I was just out for fifteen minutes!"

Another hum from the TARDIS.

"_As grouchy as always?_ What do you mean by that? I mean..."

As the Doctor continued on his rambling, Jack and Rose could only watch and stare at him in absolute awkwardness and confusion.

"... What is he doing?" Jack whispered softly to Rose.

"I think he's communicating with the TARDIS..." was the only reply Rose gave him.

Jack looked at her in a way as if she had just gone mentally insane. But one glance from her and he realised that she was really serious. He stared back at the Doctor, not knowing what to think at the moment.

"Oi! Oi! There's no need for foul language!" the Doctor scolded with a small glare at one of the walls, "All I just want to know is what the hell is going on here!"

Suddenly, a loud beeping noise sounded off and instinctively the Doctor raced over to the monitor screen.

Even though he did not know the button schemes for this console, he could still read data and info on a TARDIS monitor well like a book.

His brows furrowed as he spoke out, "Wait a minute. There's another TARDIS in the surrounding vicinity!"

Alarmed by this, Rose stepped up to him and asked, "What do you mean "another TARDIS"? There's another police box out there?"

Jack looked at her in confusion, "What?"

The Doctor gave her an apologetic look, "I'm sorry, Rose, but I don't know what to tell you. There's something that's definitely going on here that we don't know-"

There was sudden knock on the door which made both Rose and Jack jump in startled surprise.

The Doctor, alerted and dark, finished, "And I think we're about to find out."

As if on cue, the door opened up and particles of dust from the storm outside blew in.

The trio stared warily at the silhouette fogure at the entranceway before he started walking on in, his full appearance illuminated by the lighting of the room.

He was wearing a blue suit with an inner blue shirt and black tie, and over it was a light-brown duster long coat that billowed about in the strong winds outside.

"Well now, here we are then! Safe and sound!" he exclaimed in a chirpy voice and he removed the gas mask he was wearing to reveal an ecstatic grin that could have made the Doctor's own pale in comparison.

Rose was instantly gobsmacked by just how young and handsome he appeared to be, not to mention that mother load of spikey brown hair on his head.

Looking around, he could not help but stare in wonderment at the interior design. "And it looks like someone's gave you a major overhaul," he remarked with an approving nod, "Not bad, not bad..."

The Doctor simply glared suspiciously at the newcomer then called out, "Oi, excuse me, Mister Whoever-You-Are, but may I know what the hell are you doing in my TARDIS?"

Curiously, the stranger froze up, as though he had recognised that voice from somewhere before.

He slowly turned around and his eyes met those of the Doctor.

A few minutes were spent staring at one another.

One had a stoic expression, the other looked as though he had seen a ghost.

"What...?" the stranger breathed in disbelief to himself.

"What indeed. You still haven't answered me, chum," the Doctor said with folded arms, slowly growing impatient and annoyed by the way he was acting.

The stranger continued staring at him.

"What?"

He strode right up to the Doctor until they were face-to-face with each other.

_"What?!"_

* * *

**For those of you who don't know who the stranger is, shame on you!**


	2. Chapter 2

The stranger continued to stare at the Doctor in silence, and the Doctor was almost tempted to start intimidating him into introducing himself.

That was until the stranger started prodding his fingers at his chest, and his biceps.

The Doctor was quickly taken off-guard.

"Oh yes... it almost feels like yesteryear," he remarked, his grin renewed, and he reached up and harshly squished the Doctor's cheeks together, "Although I think I don't remember having a bit of fat around there."

Momentarily stunned by his personal space being violated, the Doctor slapped away the stranger's hands.

"Do that again and I'll make sure you'll regret it for the rest of your life! You got that?" he growled hotly with a raised index finger.

The stranger however did not appear the least offended by his threat. In fact he was more amused than threatened.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about that too," he commented with a nod, "Still got the grouchy attitude down to a tee, I see."

He then looked up and down to soak in the Doctor's overall rugged apearance.

"All things considered though, you still look _fantastic_," the stranger commented with a hearty chuckle, "As fantastic as you'll ever be, Doctor!"

The Doctor raises a brow at this red flag.

"You know who I am?"

The stranger grinned wider, "And so much more!"

Rose and Jack stared on at the exchange, slightly bewildered by all the strangeness happening.

Giving a loud cough to get everyone else's attention, Rose spoke up, "I'm sorry, but just to reiterate a question, might I know who you are, mister-"

"Rose!" the stranger greeted her with a look of hapiness (and relief?) all of a sudden, his arms stretched wide open, "Oh how I've missed you so-"

"Eyes on me, chum!" the Doctor cut in and turned the stranger back to him, "Rose's right, let's get back to the pleasantries, shall we? Now who are you?"

There was a hint of anger and annoyance on the stranger's face before he turned more serious.

"Right um..." he started to speak out, "You might say... I come from your future, Doctor."

The Doctor got right in his face and narrowed his eyes.

"If you're trying to be cryptic towards me, a Time Lord, then you're failing miserably," he stated strictly, "Considering that we're in a bit of a sticky situation here, I'd advise you give the full but brief version. Now."

The stranger eyed him with an impressed smirk before he made a small shrug of hia shoulders.

"Alright then. You want the specifics? Why not do it in a way only the Doctor would understand," he said evenly and he reached into his suit's inner pocket.

From it, he produced a small, cylindrical object, one that the Doctor was _very_ familiar with.

The older man could only stare in shock and surprise at the sonic screwdriver in the stranger's hand. It only intensified when it actually started glowing at its blue top as well as making that buzzing sound.

He pulled out his own sonic and compared it dumbfoundedly with the stranger's own. His mouth gaped open, and did his two companions as they stared at the stranger, now starting to realise who he truly was.

"No..." The stranger grinned, "Yes."

"No..."

"Oh ho yes."

The Doctor's face darkened, "You _murdered_ me!"

The stranger absentmindedly nodded, "Yes, I murd-wait, _what?!_"

Rose and Jack could only face palm. They came to a different conclusion from the Time Lord, as usual.

The Doctor practically sneered at the stranger and quickly snatched away his own sonic.

"Oi! Wait a minute!" the stranger protested and reached for his confiscated sonic, but the Doctor firmly held him back.

"Shut up you! You ran into me sometime in the future, somehow managed to kill me without activating the regenerative process, and started parading across time and space using MY name!" the Doctor accused, "If that isn't the reason you have my EXACT sonic screwdriver, I don't know what is!"

He held up the pair of sonics in his hand; they were completely identical aside from their different colour schemes.

Exasperated, the stranger ceased the struggle and took a step back.

"Look, believe it or not, I AM you," he stated as plainly as calmly as he could, "Take a look at this bone structure Grumpy Pants, because one day you're gonna be shaving it like a megalomaniac!"

He gestured to his own pretty boy face for good measure.

The Doctor frowned at him in silence, clearly not believing a word he was saying.

The stranger himself looked just about ready to give up himself, that was until Rose spoke up again.

"If you really are him... if you are really the Doctor... then just answer me this: When did we first meet?"

Eyeing her with a softened smile, the stramger nodded his head and slowly turned around.

"Oh Rose Tyler... my sweet, _brilliant_ Rose Tyler..." he croaked softly with a bit of warmth and pain in his voice, "Where I am now it feels like an eternity ago, but I still remember it well."

He started walking slowly towards her, which earned him a wary glare from the Doctor, and a scowl from Jack as he instinctively moved to protect Rose. But the blonde gently pushed him away, assuring him that she would be fine, then turned her attention back to the stranger as he slowly moved towards her.

"It was on the 4th of March as I recall. The year 2005. It was the middle of the night, end of office hours. Everyone else had went home, but you? You were trapped in a basement, surrounded by window shop dummies. You were so scared out of your wits when you thought you were going to die that night. Alone."

Rose's demeanor faltered and a pained look crossed her face.

Oh God how she remembered that moment well. The night when she thought that her life was going to end. With no help whatsoever, and in a place where no one would even be aware of her demise until much, much later.

"Oh please, you could've dug that up from the TARDIS' archives," the Doctor scoffed.

Rose spun on him and snapped, "Enough Doctor!"

She turned her focus back to the other one as he stood right before her. Her silence prompted for him to continue.

"But then I was there. I took you by the hand like this..."

He wrapped one tender hand around Rose's own, and she was surprised by how warm and gentle it was.

"... and then I said one word. Just one, teensy weensy word. **Run**."

Rose's heart panged against her ribcage when she heard that fateful word that had changed her life and she looked at the man, through his pair of eyes. In them, she saw something, an aura of wisdom and age that were beyond her own understanding and comprehension. It was so familiar, that she knew that she could only see that in another person that she knew. She casted a side glance at her Doctor's own eyes. She saw it in them as well.

Stifling a gasp, she breathed out softly, "D-Doctor...?"

The future Doctor smiled cheerfully back at her, "Hello."

Slowly and carefully, she reached out with a hand and carressed his cheek. As she had somewhat expected, his face was different. Very different.

"You changed... literally..." she gasped in awed amazement, "But how? I don't understand..."

The Doctor's future self looked over to him.

"You want to explain this part or should I?" he asked in a dramatic way.

Rose's Doctor bristled slightly and looked away.

"You're clearly in the heat of the moment," he curtly grumbled.

Shrugging his shoulders, the future Doctor looked back to Rose and explained, "Well, you see Rose, we Time Lords have this certain trick to cheat death. A biological contingency plan if you will. When we're about to die, our body undergoes a massive change. Every single cell changes. And when that happens... well..."

He points at his past self and then at himself to emphasize his point.

"You get the picture."

Rose nodded her head slowly, "I see..."

"So if that's the case..." Jack broke his silence and he strode up to the future Doctor, "Then I assume that Mr Grinch over there wasn't the original?"

"Oi!" the Doctor cried out from the console, clearly offended by that nickname.

Chuckling to himself on the other hand, the future Doctor shook his head, "Good to see you again, Captain. And you're right: he's not the original me. In fact he's my ninth incarnation; I'm number ten."

Jack raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry, _again?_"

Beside him, Rose asked, "So you come after him?"

She pointed at her Doctor, or rather, the _Ninth_ Doctor, now that she thought about it.

The Tenth Doctor nodded his head, "Yup."

He popped the P for effect.

The Ninth Doctor suddenly walked forwards over to his future self.

"If you really are me... then tell me something that only _I_ know about," he challenged, "Something I would never ever dare tell anybody else."

The Tenth Doctor gave him an exasperated glance.

"Was I ever this much of a grump?" he whispered to Rose.

She merely gave him a look that said "Do I need to really say it?"

The Tenth Doctor read her look then shrugged, "Eh, fair point..."

He stepped over to the Ninth Doctor, stared at him longingly, before he suddenly leaned over to his ear.

"Oh yeah, I remember the ears too. Really made me feel like a Time Lord Dumbo," he commented observantly.

The Ninth Doctor eyed him with a scowl, "Why are you breathing into my ear?"

"Oh s-sorry, wasn't my intention!" the Tenth Doctor apologised sheepishly, and then he turned serious, "Or is it...?"

He then started whispering something into his previous self's ear, his words unaudible to either Jack or Rose.

They had no idea what their Doctor's future version was telling him, but they would soon have an idea how much of an effect it was having on him.

At first nothing much happened, and the Ninth Doctor remained stoic as he ever was. But then his demeanor slowly began to falter, and a corner of his mouth began to twitch slightly.

And then his expression completely faltered, a look of horror and disbelief quickly replacing the seriousness that had been there mere seconds prior.

The Tenth Doctor slowly backed away, finished with whatever he had to say to his counterpart, and remained fairly quiet to view his other's reaction.

The Ninth Doctor simply stared off into the distance, slowly contemplating everything that had been fed to him.

No... Impossible! Only he could have known something like that! No imposter should have been able to get a hold of personal information that he himself had never permitted the TARDIS logged into her database!

And that could only mean one thing...

He looked to the Tenth Doctor, eyes as wide as saucers, his ego taking another big hit as true realisation settled in.

"No..." he muttered softly.

The Tenth Doctor nodded his head, "Oh yes."

"N-No..."

"_Now_ I'm getting it."

The Ninth Doctor blinked once and twice, as though he was trying to shake off some sort of nightmarish vision.

But then he suddenly exclaimed out, "Oh no...! You really _are_ me, aren't you?! Please tell me you're not?!"

"Oh yes! I really, really am!" the Tenth Doctor grinned.

The Ninth Doctor slapped a hand on his face and whined, "I can't believe this! I turn into some prancing, lunatic skinny teenager!"

"W-What, _teenager?!_" the Tenth Doctor parroted with a dumbfounded gaping stare.

Rose could not help but giggle along to the exchange happening before her, Jack from beside looked as though he was trying to hold in his own.

"That's right, I said "teenager", teenager! Look at you, all dressed up like a boy trying to act like his old man!"

The Tenth Doctor stepped up to defend himself, "Now see here you! Trust me when I say this: that tall, dark and handsome stature of yours is gonna overstay its welcome before you even know it! So cherish whatever time you have left, especially with that tunic shirt of yours, Doctor!"

Raising an eyebrow, the Ninth Doctor clinched at the helm of his dark-coloured jumper.

"What is it with everyone and my jumper?" he muttered out questionably and exasperated.

Just then however, the doors flew open and another pair of figures stepped into the control room.

Both removed their masks, revealing themselves to be a pair of young women, one of dark skin, and the other of natural light British skin tone.

The former glared right at the Tenth Doctor and hollered out, "There you are! Do you have any idea how long it took us to find you in that sandstorm?!"

The Tenth Doctor beamed a welcoming smile at the pair and walked casually over, "Ah! Martha! Donna! Nice of you to join the party!"

Donna glared back at him, "Nice of us? Nice of YOU to leave us behind out there in that bloody onslaught of sand and dirt! There better be some damned compensation for us trekking all this way by ourselves, Space Man!"

Meanwhile, the Ninth Doctor alongside Rose and Jack could only look on wordlessly.

"I didn't mean to leave you behind out there like that!" the Tenth Doctor protested, "It's just that... I got too caught up in the moment..."

Martha and Donna exchanged doubtful glances.

"Sorry mister, but that excuse is not going to cut it," Martha scolded him, "Especially since your ship took off with me as an unwilling passenger."

"I told you! I swear I had absolutely nothing do with what happened back there!"

The TARDIS made a beeping noise, and both Doctors focused on the entire room.

"What do you mean by that, old girl?" the Ninth Doctor questioned aloud in confusion, and he was answered by another hum.

"Now that's just great..." He grumbled and brisked his way over to the monitor again, this time followed by the Tenth Doctor.

"In my opinion, this is such a _brilliant_ situation we've gotten ourselves into," he piped in with a sarcastic tone.

As they read through the information on the monitor silently, Rose and Jack opted to slink over to where Martha and Donna were.

"Um... excuse me?" Rose called out, and the two women turned to her, "Hope if you don't mind but may I ask something? Are you also companions of the Doctor?"

"Yes," both women replied in unison but then Martha added in, "Well, I mean, she's currently with the Doctor. I used to be with him."

Rose nodded slowly, "I see... Then what about me? Where am I in the future?"

"Well, that all depends on who you are," Donna responded, "And speaking of which, where are my manners? I'm Donna Noble, and that's Martha Jones. What's your name, love?"

Rose extended out her hand and Donna took it in her own.

"That's Jack Harkness," she introduced.

"_Captai__n_ Jack Harkness," Jack corrected.

She rolled her eyes at him then turned back to Donna and Martha, "My name's Rose Tyler."

It was at that name that both women widened their eyes in recognition.

"Rose Tyler?" Martha parroted. "Yes."

"_The _Rose Tyler?" Donna asked with growing surprise.

Rose stared at them both with a questionable look, "... Yes."

Donna took the opportunity to scan the blonde up and down.

"Well... all things considered, you are everything I'd imagine you to be," she commented.

"So you know me in the future?" Rose inquired, feeling rather anxious about learning what would happen in her future.

"Um..." Martha trailed off sheepishly and shared an awkward look with Donna, "Well... we do. Kind of..."

"Maybe..." Donna added in, "The Doctor spoke briefly about you when I first met him."

"Me too. Although I learnt a bit more from Captain Harkness here," Martha said and nodded to Jack, "Isn't that right, Captain?"

Jack grinned widely but in more forceful way, "Oh yeah! That one... um... did I?"

Martha's smile faltered slightly, "Of course you did, remember? It was at Utopia. The end of the universe!"

Jack fell silent, trying to recall something in his memory. But nothing came.

"Sorry, I've got nothing," he apologised sincerely with a shrug, "Must've happened in the future for me."

That made Martha and Donna all the more puzzled. "What do you mean "happened in the future"?" Donna questioned confusingly.

Taking this as her cue to step in again, Rose spoke up, "Right... you might want to brace yourself for this, because things are about to become a lot more complicated..."

As she began explaining about what the Tenth Doctor said about regeneration, the man himself was taking frequent glances at his previous counterpart, who was seemingly glued to the monitor screen.

"So then Doctor, where are you now, by any chance?" he inquired softly so that the others wouldn't overhear them.

The Ninth Doctor eyed him for a brief minute before looking back at the monitor.

"Just departed Raxacoricofallapatorius," he merely replied.

"Ah yes... I remember that one," the Tenth Doctor reminisced, "A sly one that Margaret. Almost blew up the TARDIS that night."

"At least now she has a second chance to start her life all over," the Ninth Doctor agreed with a curt nod, "Without the influence of a criminal mind."

He turned around to address his future self, "And you?"

The Tenth Doctor shoved his hands into the pockets of his blue trousers, "Well... Martha, Donna and I saved the Earth from a full-blown Sontaran invasion if you can imagine that. And then we had a bit of chit chat inside the TARDIS. Martha was just about to leave when the old girl suddenly took off. Next thing we knew, here we are."

A hum from the TARDIS itself signalled the Tenth Doctor's attention.

"Oh come now, you could've at least let her off first!" he chided the ship, "She had somewhere else she needed to be, and we respected her decision!"

Another hum.

"What? What do you mean "there was a reason"?"

Another hum, this one far more agitated and strained.

The Ninth Doctor narrowed his eyes, "Sorry old girl, but this one doesn't have time to sit and wait! I demand answers and I want them now! Why are we here?"

Suddenly, the door burst open again, and everyone spun around in alarm.

Another newcomer strolled right into the control room, with his aubergine cashmere frock coat, bow tie, floppy brown hair and his chin jutting outwards.

"Aha! Here we are!" he exclaimed out joyfully through his gas mask with his arms stretched out dramatically.

He then turned around and called out, "See? I told you I knew where I was going."

"Yes, after about half-an-hour of aimless searching!" a female voice replied back, and then another person stepped in, her face also concealed beneath a gas mask.

She pulled off her mask to reveal a young, beautiful face. One that Jack himself instantly glued his eyes too.

Unaware of this, the young woman elbowed her partner in the ribs.

"You could've warned me that we were venturing into a sandstorm!" she admonished lightly then gestures at her sand-covered leather jacket that she was trying to dust off, "I mean, look at me!"

"Oh come now, Clara! It's not that bad!" the other stranger replied back cheerfully and then proceeded to remove of his shoes.

He tilted it sideways to allow a sea of sand to flow out and onto the ground.

"Still, I could do with some vacuum cleaning after this," he admitted with a shrug, "All things considered."

Growing tired of the banter going on, the Ninth Doctor stepped forth and called out, "And who are you two supposed to be?"

The male stranger paused for a brief moment then looked over to the other two Doctors that were staring at him expectantly.

"Oh..." he muttered quietly as he put on his shoe again and then proceeded to remove his mask.

Almost everyone in the room were stunned by the sight of a youthful face that had been hidden underneath since his arrival.

He looked to the Ninth Doctor and gaped.

"Look at you... so tense and rigid like a predator stalking its prey," he noted, "Just as how I remember it."

His attention was then on the Tenth Doctor.

"And you... oh you...!" he said with growing ecstasy, "So very skinny... Very proper skinny!"

He twisted his body slightly and gazed down at his own appearance, much to the Tenth Doctor's growing confusion.

"I've never seen it from the outside! It's like a special effect!" he suddenly exclaimed and quickly marched over to the blue suit man.

He reached over and agressively adjusted the lapels on the blazer.

Taking a step back, the stranger gave out a laugh, "Hah! Matchstick Man!"

The Tenth Doctor leaned in closer to him out of sheer befuddlement for closer inspection.

And then his eyes slowly widened. "You're not..."

The Ninth Doctor seemed to have reached the same conclusion as he handed back his immediate future self his sonic screwdriver and exhanged a look with him.

They raised their respective sonics up before the stranger, who in turn pulled out his own screwdriver, which this time had a green bulb at its top.

And then he flicked it out slightly, making the top extendible "claws" to pop out in dramatic effect.

He smirked cockily at the other two as though to say "Mine's bigger than yours".

Somewhat besmirched by this, the Tenth Doctor extended out his own as well, as if he were trying to salvage what was left of his dignity.

The Ninth Doctor simply raised an eyebrow at the two, wondering why they were even bothering doing this.

As thoufh he could sense his previous self's thoughts, the Tenth Doctor muttered out, "Compensating..."

The stranger cocked his head slightly, "For what?"

"Regeneration. It's a lottery," the Tenth Doctor replied and tried to pass it off with a nochalant shrug.

"Oh he's cool, isn't he cool?" the stranger snarked mockingly as and the Tenth Doctor both tossed their sonics expertly up into the air in-sync before pocketing them back into their respective suits.

"I'm the Doctor and I'm all cool. Oops, I'm wearing _sand shoes!_"

He waved his arms around in a circular motion before pointing down at the Tenth Doctor's white trainers.

"You're one to talk! Is your chin supposed to jut out like that?" the Tenth Doctor retorted hotly.

"And do you ever stick to one hairstyle?" the stranger challenged back, "I mean seriously, did I really have vanity issues back then? I can see why I didn't last long."

The Tenth Doctor raised a brow at this, "What? What do you mean _I didn't last long?_"

Rolling his eyes in exasperation, the Ninth Doctor put away his screwdriver and said, "Alright, that's enough you two. I've already gotten enough headaches as it is from this prancing teenager!"

The Tenth Doctor gave him a big pouty face.

"So, you're me as well then?" the Ninth Doctor questioned the stranger, "From my future?"

The stranger grinned at him, "Oh yes I am, Doctor! Doctor No. 11!"

The Ninth Doctor acted as though he was seriously acknowledging this.

"... Okay, charmed to meet you too. And who's that lass over there?"

He pointed at the young woman who the Eleventh Doctor came in with.

She stepped forth and introduced herself. "I'm Clara. Clara Oswald."

And it took no less than a second for the first person to introduce himself.

"Lovely name Miss Oswald! Captain Jack Harkness at your service!" Jack greeted her with casual salute, a wink and a flirtatious grin.

"Stop it!" both the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors suddenly snapped at him strictly, which caught the time agent off-guard.

The Ninth Doctor was startled by this as well and raised his brows at the other two.

The Tenth Doctor simply shrugged his shoulders and mouthed back, "I'll explain later."

Turning his attention to the console room, the Eleventh Doctor swaggered around it, his eyes taking in every last detail of the interior.

"I say... you've outdone yourself this time, old girl!" he preened, "Very nice! Nice touch with the mystical element! Do you happen to have a unicorn somwhere around here by any chance?"

The TARDIS made a beeping sound that was almost akin too... giggling?

He then turned over to the console. And one specific item on it.

"And will you look at that!" he exclaimed and ran over to it, "A mini you!"

He played with it for a brief moment.

"Ooh! And it spins too!"

His previous incarnations stared at him in equal dumbfoundment.

"I take back what I said about you being a teenager," the Ninth Doctor whispered silently to the Tenth Doctor, "He's clearly more juvenile than you."

The Tenth Doctor could only manage a slow nod of his head, distracted by how overexuberant his future self was acting.

Was this how he was going to be come the next regeneration?

He thought to what he said about the Ninth Doctor's attire earlier.

Now he was eating his own words too.

The door suddenly opened again, and everyone turned around.

"Now what?" the Ninth Doctor grumbled under his breath.

From the storm outside, a new stranger stepped into the control room. His appearance included a black velvet frockcoat with a cornflower blue lining flowed and an inner dark-coloured hoodie and red shirt.

And just like the others before him, he too was sporting a gas mask.

_"Common minds think alike I suppose,"_ the Tenth Doctor noted mentally.

The newcomer surveyed the area for a brief moment, his eyes taking notice of every person in the room, especially the three Doctors.

After which he looked back behind him and called out, "It's alright! You two can come in now!"

From the door, two more strangers slowly entered into the TARDIS.

One of them quickly reached up to her mask and slid it off of her face.

With a gasp of deep breath she exclaimed aloud, "Finally...! I almost thought I was suffocating in this thing!"

The other one removed his mask and pulled out his spectacles from his pocket.

"It could've been worse I suppose..." he said with a shrug and scratched his bald head, "I had my head trapped inside a big robot suit for years."

As the woman turned and stared at her companion with a wide-eyed look, the first stranger removed his mask, revealing a man with whiter hair and visibly older face.

He then noticed the Doctors standing in front of him at the console and he frowned slightly.

"Well now... I can see I've made myself comfortable..." he commented wryly.

He tossed his mask off to one side without another thought and he marched right up to the other three.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak again, the Tenth Doctor lifted an index finger.

"I'll stop you right there since I know what happens next if I let you talk, so let's just get right to it, hmm?" he stated boringly, "You're also the Doctor, correct? From our future?"

The stranger blinked at them.

"Well... yes," he replied, "I guess I really needn't introduce myself again."

The Eleventh Doctor groaned, "You look old! D'oh, I couldn't have gotten old again! How'd that even happen?"

Just then the Tenth Doctor suddenly realised something, and his stare tightened at the older gentleman.

"Hang on... you look like that Caecilius chap from Pompeii... Why?" he suddenly questioned anxiously.

The Twelfth Doctor shrugged his shoulders, "I-It's... something you should find out at your own time. And besides, there's quite a story behind that. Trust me, you'd bored out of your mind within seconds."

As the four Doctors continued on with their conversation, their companions had started a separate one.

"Rose Tyler," Rose introduced herself politely to Clara as they shook hands.

"Yeah, I know who you are," Clara acknowledged then nodded to a handful of the others, "And Jack, and Martha, and Donna too."

Martha was surprised by this, "You do?"

"Jolly old Space Man must've told her about us," Donna deduced as if it was the only explanation.

Clara suddenly looked sheepish. "Yeah... no, he didn't," she stated awkwardly, "I know you lot because well... it's complicated..."

"So's the Doc and the TARDIS, but who's complaining? We understand," Jack said warmly and grinned again.

Clara giggled lightly, if only to shrug off the deeper meaning behind his expression.

"So where are you now then Clara?" Martha inquired curiously, "With your Doctor I mean?"

Clara thought about it for a moment.

"Let's see... um... we just got off from defeating this bloke who called himself the Great Intelligence."

Jack sputtered a laugh, "_The Great Intelligence?_ What a cheesy title!"

Clara shrugged in agreement, "Yeah, I thought as much too. Except he wasn't exactly the Great Intelligence; his body was just being used as a host for the actual consciousness. And that one's another long story in and of itself."

Rose could sense that there was more of that story that she was not telling, but she chose not to pry into it.

"The Doctor and I decided to take a little break from adventuring after that, but that was when he got that "recall signal" as he named it, and here we are!" Clara finished.

Nodding her head, Donna then turned to the other pair that just arrived.

"What about you two then?" she asked, "What's your story?"

"The Doctor, I mean _my_ Doctor and I just came off from fighting some big fish thing living underneath the River Thames," the woman responded, "In the year 1814 of course. Oh, and the Doctor slugged this artistocratic arse in the face right in his own home."

"What?" Rose almost exclaimed with a appalled look on her face.

Jack whistled softly, "The Doc's clearly been busy..."

Noticing the shocked looks that the rest were sending her, the woman raised her hands in defense.

"It's not what it looks like!" she frantically placated, "He was just defending me! That arsehole shot very hurtful remarks at me!"

Everyone sighed with relief.

"As he bloody should," Donna stated evenly, "It's not like 'im to just waltz into someone else's home and just conk him in the head."

"Even if he's someone like Mr Grinch over there," Jack chimed in with a finger point at the Ninth Doctor.

He was unaware of a side-glance from that particular Time Lord, annoyance evident on his face.

"And who're those chaps that were with you?" the Eleventh Doctor asked his future self, bringing the Ninth Doctor's focus back to their own circle.

The Twelfth Doctor shrugged, "The woman's Bill Potts. The fat baldy one's Nardole, who also happens to be my new personal assistant."

"Of course you'd need an assistant, Eye Brows" the Tenth Doctor remarked, "Look at you!"

The Twelfth Doctor furrowed his big brows at him.

"And where you've been before this, eh?" the Ninth Doctor questioned mockingly, "A magician's convention by the look of that coat!"

"Ha ha, very funny," the Twelfth Doctor grumbled sarcastically, "I can see why the years haven't made me all the more wiser."

"Don't forget our sense of fashion," the Eleventh Doctor piped in, "Our getups could start a new trend out there."

There was a loud "Ahem!" which caught the Time Lord's attention, and they all turned around to their companions.

And one in particular.

"Not wishing to ruin a happy reunion..." Martha called out, "But if there isn't anyone else coming in "unannounced", can we get an explanation why we're all here?"

Clara nodded in agreement, "Yes, it's not every day we see all of you in the same place at once."

"Even if we don't know most of you," Nardole added in.

The Doctors eyed one another again.

"So who wants to start?" the Tenth Doctor asked.

The Twelfth Doctor shrugged, "I gladly volunteer and-"

"Oi, just because you're the oldest Doctor 'ere doesn't mean you get to put yourself in charge!" the Eleventh Doctor stated disapprovingly.

"It's the most logical logic, my friend with the uncontrollable hand flaps. I'm the most experienced, and has greater insight than anyone else in this room."

The Twelfth Doctor looked back to the companions, "No offense."

"None taken Doc," Jack replied back with yet another charming grin, which earned him glares from the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors.

Rolling his eyes at this, the Ninth Doctor brushed past his other selves without a care for their reactions, and he sauntered over to the middle ground between both groups.

"Right, so now then. Why we are all here? That's the big question, isn't it?" he began in his usual proffessionalism, "Well there's two parts to it, and I can easily answer the first half. Do you remember the signal I spoke about earlier? Rose? Jack?"

Both of his companions nodded their heads. He then looked over to the others, an expectant look on his face.

"Well... we don't know much about what happened, but our Doctor was grumbling about some sort of "signal" before we went into the storm," Martha responded, with Donna nodding beside her.

"Yeah. My Doctor also told me about the recall signal," Clara spoke up, "Mum on the details, says he would explain everything later."

She glanced to the Eleventh Doctor who returned a sheepish look.

"I guess he really meant you."

"No I didn't mean it like that," the Eleventh Doctor protested, "I was really going to tell you later..."

"And Mr Grinch Face took up that responsibility quickly," the Twelfth Docror quipped, "While you failed miserably."

"Oi!" both the Ninth and Eleventh Doctors snapped back, the former because of the nickname and the latter because of his future self's mockery.

Ignoring the pair, the Twelfth Doctor eyed Bill and Nardole, "And I also told you the name of that curious signal earlier, correct?"

"Yep," Bill responded.

"Absolutely sir," Nardole nodded his head.

"He called me "sir"..." the Tenth Doctor mumbled to himself, "So grown up..."

While the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors continued with their glaring match, the Ninth Doctor refocused his attention on the rest that were listening to him.

"That signal that we're all talking about now is called a Recall Signal. Powered by a circuit built into the TARDIS."

"It's supposed to only serve as an emergency protocol in the event that the Time Lords require my assistance, anywhere on Gallifrey," the Tenth Doctor continued on, "The signal you see is a source for the circuit to hone in on, like a magnet. Either the TARDIS is piloted there willingly by me... or it gets pulled in by force. Whichever comes first."

"So wait... you're tellin' me that this is your home planet?" Donna queried in disbelief, "This dust ball with raging bloody storms?!"

The Tenth Doctor brisked over to her in an instant and held her firmly by her shoulders.

"No Donna, I promise you this isn't Gallifrey," he assured her genuinely, "It's much farther out than just 4 light years... and it's gone..."

The Ninth Doctor suddenly looked even sadder than before.

Just the slightest mention of Gallifrey's destruction was enough to bring back darker memories. Memories that he had been struggling to bury under tons of intelligence and personality at the back of his mind.

Behind him the Eleventh Doctor too shared the same dark look.

But as for the Twelfth Doctor...

Unbeknownst to the other versions of the Time Lord, he was the only one whose expression was singing a rather different tune.

Only Clara and Rose seemed to notice this, but they chose to not pry.

And then the Tenth Doctor looked back to his other selves, and their expressions were quickly shrugged off.

"But if Galifrey's gone... how's the signal still functioning?" he inquired suddenly.

Silence fell in the control room, as the Doctors now pondered over this new thought.

"Maybe your TARDIS, I mean this TARDIS, could have had one built in too?" Clara suggested, "I mean it would make more sense, would it?"

The Tenth Doctor looked at her sadly, "I wish you were right, Miss Oswald, but that's not how it works I'm afraid. See, the only way is if the TARDIS' system code has been registered with the Gallifreyan technological mainframes. Kinda like a highly advanced mobile plan."

"But I admit there was one instance I used the signal," the Ninth Doctor confessed with a plain shrug, "The Death Zone. But that time I had used the circuit to hack into the mainframe. Subtly of course - they never suspected a thing. Aside from that though, no, the TARDIS doesn't have its own recall signal."

"Only the members in the High Council would have access to use it, but all of them, even Rassilon, went down with the ship that day," the Eleventh Doctor added in with a concurring tone.

"So that rules out the Time Lords," the Ninth Doctor stated, "And that leads us to the second part of the question."

He stormed back over to the console and looked upwards.

"So how about it, old girl?" he asked the TARDIS, "Care to enlighten us? Or are we expecting more of the nostalgic company?"

The TARDIS made a loud hum, and then a loud siren blared through the room.

And then suddenly, a holographic projection fizzled into existence.

_"Emergency Program Two initiated,"_ droned the projected figure as the Doctors and the companions all huddled together before it.

To their collective surprise, it bore the appearance of a human female woman.

Her facial features could almost be deduced as in her mid-thirties. She had blonde hair with dark roots that reached down to her jaw line, and hazel-coloured eyes. Her clothing consists of a hooded, lilac-blue trench coat with dark blue interim, a T-shirt with rainbow stripes, a pair of high-waisted teal blue capri trousers, and black laced boots.

"Wow... ain't she a beaut..." Jack drawled in wonderment.

"Stop it," the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors scolded him again.

The Twelfth Doctor actually looked over to him and snapped, "Shut up. Just shuttity up."

_"Greetings, wayward travellers. Welcome to the TARDIS."_ the woman said emotionessly, _"If you are the Doctor, identify yourselves immediately by raising your sonics up into the air. If you are not, then this ship will initiate Security Protocal 316 and leave you stranded in this world. You have fifteen seconds." _

The hologram disappeared.

Red alarms started to flash all around, and the countdown began on the monitor.

Wide-eyed by this, the Ninth Doctor growled, "Now that's just fantastic..."

He and his other selves frantically fished out their sonic screwdrivers.

"Doctor? What's happening?" Clara questioned fearfully.

"Security Protocal 316!" the Eleventh Doctor quickly explained, "If we don't verify our identities to this hologram, the TARDIS will use a mind wipe will erase every single memory from our minds!"

"And leave us stranded here like mindless zombies?!" Rose questioned anxiously.

"... Zombie is such a relative term," the Twelfth Doctor said in a calmer tone.

"Alright you lot, we have about eight seconds left! On my signal we raise our sonics and buzz them at the highest frequency!"

His other selves nodded their heads seriously and quickly readjusted their own screwdriver settings, leaving no room for further argument.

"NOW!" he roared and as one, the four Doctors shot up their sonics and buzzed them loudly.

The sirens continued blaring as the countdown reached to '4'. But the Doctors never let up, all of them equally determined to survive this.

And then the countdown halted at '2'.

Gradually the sirens fell silent and the red flahses went off.

All the companions breathed out sighs of relief as the Doctors lowered their sonics.

"You've never mentioned anything about security protocols, let alone a broad one," Rose said to the Doctors, a frown plastered on her face.

"_All_ ships have protocols, it doesn't take that much to figure that out," the Twelfth Doctor stated in a matter-of-fact tone, "But I admit, 316 is a little add-on I made a long time ago... when I was much more paranoid for a certain... family foreman..."

The Doctors eyed one another awkwardly, all considering the idea of removing it at a later date.

The hologram flickered back to life and the woman now has a passive grin on her face.

_"Well now, if you're still here, then you have to be the Doctor!"_ she congratulated, _"Only he would be able figure out the TARDIS' recognition systems! So... here's to you!"_

She gave a crisp salute.

The Doctors stared at this gesture with mixed feelings.

"Again with the saluting..." the Tenth Doctor grumbled to himself, "What is it with military personnel and all their saluting...?"

"Human habit I suppose. It's their way of treating others with respect," the Twelfth Doctor surmised.

The Eleventh Doctor simply shrugged nochantly at this whilst the Ninth Doctor made no comment.

_"This transmission will only be played once, so please do try to pay attention. You can me Joan. Joan Shanley Myth. Joan Myth if you wish." _

"Huh... that's a hell of a name," Clara remarked knowingly.

_"A while ago-actually I shouldn't say it like that since who knows how much time has passed until you came across this. Anywho, my team and I came by this planet in the Sierra system. Admittedly, it had no name of its own, so I've taken the liberty of making one of my own."_

A new word highlighted in bold fonts appeared before them.

"**DESDEMONA" **

Clara leaned forward slightly in curiosity. "Desdemona? Like that character from one of Shakespeare's plays?"

The Ninth Doctor turned to her with a raised brow. "You read Shakespeare?"

Clara shrugged, "Amongst other novels. The only way I could stave off years of boringness from not knowing how Internet works."

Donna gaped at her wide-eyed.

"What do you mean you "don't know about the Internet?" Every civilised human on Earth knows how the bloody Internet works!"

_"We, presumably much like yourselves, wandered around this dust bowl for quite a bit with gas masks. But about after an hour or so or trekking... well... we got separated..."_

"Ah... so they were being careless in a sandstorm," the Twelfth Doctor declared unamused, "Typical."

_"I tried searching for my fam, that was until I stumbled upon something. It looked like an underground bunker that Churchill would've used. My curiosity kicked in and went investigating the place. That was... until I activated a booby trap. And that was when I encountered the inhabitants. Daleks."_

The Doctors narrowed their eyes at this, whilst most of the companions gaped their mouths open.

"They survived?" the Ninth Doctor growled under his breath.

"Oh boy..." Martha muttered under her breath worriedly.

If the Daleks were involved in this, then things were about to get really serious.

_"Now, this might seem a little inconvenient, but I'm afraid that's all the info I can give you. Currently I'm trapped in this dusty old cell, and I can only use the sonic for so long to trasmit this message before they pick up on it. I might be dead now depending on how much time has passed, but who knows? _Who_ knows? The rest is up to you now, Doctor. Find and rescue my fam. And take down those enemies like you always do." _

Joan made a warm, yet saddened smile.

_"I__ know you can, because I believe in you. Good luck."_

The hologram flickered out, leaving everyone else to contemplate what they had just heard.

"Well, looks like this is now going to be a major rescue operation," the Twelfth Doctor surmised.

The Ninth Doctor placed his hands at his hips, "I don't like this. It's almost suicidal, charging into a Dalek stronghold just to rescue some more stupid apes."

"Oi!" All of the human companions suddenly snapped at him, clearly offended by his remark.

"But that hasn't stopped us before, has it?" the Eleventh Doctor pointed out, "And besides, that lady lass just said that she believed in us. Believed that we're able to get the job done."

"I know what she said, but it's another part of the message that troubles me," the Ninth Doctor stated evenly, "Who knows how much has passed since she recorded that message?"

He looked up to the walls, "How about it old girl? Care to give us any more pointers?"

There was no response this time, it's almost as though the TARDIS had gone silent now that her part was played.

The Ninth Doctor frowned, "That's what I thought."

He spun on his heels and walked over to the doors.

"Rose. Jack. Come on, we're leaving."

"W-What?" Jack sputtered in surprise as Rose quickly shot forth and grabbed her Doctor by an arm.

"No Doctor! What're you doing?!" she demanded, "We can't just leave!"

"We can and we will," the Ninth Doctor replied calmly as he reached for the door handle, "Just watch me and you follow."

But Rose saw this and she applied a little bit more force to pull the bigger man away from the doors.

"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?!" she questioned him angrily, "Weren't you the one who said that you wouldn't refuse a call for help?!"

The Ninth Doctor frowned at her, "That was before I realised that that person was not a version of myself! I mean look at her, would you really think of me becoming a woman in the future? Oh please! And besides, when I thought about my other selves, I believed it would've been a _past_ version, not this lot standing there like the Three Stooges!"

The Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors recoiled back harshly as if they got punched in the gut with rather hurtful looks on their faces.

Clara, having enough with the Ninth Doctor's attitude, marched over to him and glared him squarely in the eyes.

And before anyone else knew it, she did it.

_"SLAP!" _

The sound cracked like a whip and echoed all over the control room, and silence fell over every individual.

Especially the Eleventh Doctor who was staring wide-eyed at his current companion.

_"Suddenly this reminds me of Plastic Rory..."_ he thought to himself.

The Ninth Doctor was staring at Clara with an almost bewildered expression, and his hand was raised to nurse his reddening, stinging cheek.

"What was that for?" he asked softly, as if he had never felt pain before in his life.

"To knock some sense into you, you arsehole," Clara growled back, "And I'm willing to do it again and again, until either you calm down or you regenerate."

Something stirred within the Twelfth Doctor's hearts. Did he hear that somewhere before?

The Tenth Doctor meanwhile looked rather awkward all of a sudden.

"If you hadn't noticed, we are in a serious situation that only you and your other selves can solve. You are the Doctor, just like them. You know the Daleks. You know their weaknesses. You know how to defeat them. So what makes this scenario any different from all those other times you encountered them? I mean, it's not like the Time War or-"

The Ninth Doctor suddenly gripped her tightly by the arms, a dangerous look in his blue eyes.

All around him, the Doctors looked at each other warily, contemplating if they should intervene or not, whilst Jack, Rose, Martha, Nardole and Donna looked more than ready to butt in if anything should happen to Clara.

"Don't you ever mention the Time War in my presence. Ever," he growled darkly, "I did what I had to do that day, even if I have to live with that sin for the rest of my lives. You have no idea the atrocities the Daleks committed. All the war crimes they were to account for. As far as I'm concerned, I want no part of that any longer. No more Daleks. No more."

_"No more..."_

The two words that had been a defining moment of the Time Lord's life. And every Doctor in the control room winced slightly at the unknown mentioning. Just hearing them brought back that voice again in their head, saying those two words during that fateful day.

Turning away from Clara, the Ninth Doctor stormed off towards the doors and pulled them open.

Stepping outside, he noticed that the storm had finally stopped. Now all he could see was clear skies and... a barren desert all around him.

"Figures..." he muttered to himself.

And then he spotted four TARDIS' not too far away. Somehow, they were now parked in-line beside one another.

He frowned at this, "Odd... I don't remember leaving her over there..."

He quietly walked over to what he believed was his own ship, as everyone else filed out of the lone TARDIS behind him.

Watching her own Doctor walking away, Rose despondently muttered out, "So what now?"

The Twelfth Doctor surveyed the area, "Right now we need to find this secret Dalek base. Chances are our esteemed fan and her friends are all being held up in there."

"But we're gonna need every big brain in this," Bill pointed out and gestured to the Ninth Doctor who entered his TARDIS, "And that means him too."

Rose sighed, "I still can't believe he walked away from us like that."

The Tenth Doctor looked at her with genuine sadness and understanding and he walked over to her.

"Don't worry, Rose. He'll come around," he assured her gently, "I just need some time to... readjust back into the spirit of things."

Rose looked at him, "But the way he just turned his back on you guys... and the way he treated you like..."

She was almost close to tears at this point, and it was all the Tenth Doctor could do to try and comfort her.

"Hey... I used to be him remember?" he spoke quietly as he put a hand on her shoulder, "I understand how grouchy and emo I used to be. But you have to understand Rose. It's just a phase. Like a rebellious teenager growing into a responsible adult."

He slowly tilted her chin up until they saw eye-to-eye.

"Give him time, Rose. Give him a chance," he advised with a smile, "If not for him, then for me, eh?"

There was a pause.

"Okay, that sounded better in my head."

Rose giggled at his little joke, her spirit uplifting a little bit.

"Okay, Doctor. I'll take my time with you," she replied, almost snarkily.

The Tenth Doctor grinned, "I know you will. Because I need you. I'll always need you with me."

Nodding her head, Rose turned and started heading off towards the TARDIS that the Ninth Doctor disappeared into.

Stepping inside the familiar dimly lit coral control room, she spotted the grouchy Time Lord sitting at the chair, lazily tossing up and down the green glass ball that was one of the intruments on the console. He had a distant look in his eyes.

Breathing softly, she slowly walked over to him.

When she decided she was within ear-range of him, she slowly called out, "D-Doctor?"

As she expected, there was no immediate response from him.

The only indication he heard her was a quick side-glance before he continued staring off into the distance.

Twiddling her fingers and thumbs hesitantly, Rose thought about what she should say first.

Should she apologise on behalf of Clara about that slap and angry rant? Or should she just try and comfort him again about his inner demons?

In this case, she decided to go for a bit of both.

"Look, I-"

"Where did I go wrong, Rose?"

Rose was taken aback by his question, "What?"

"Where did I go wrong?" the Ninth Doctor repeated softly as he gazed at the green ball he was playing with.

He closed his eyes, "When did I stop caring about people just because the Daleks are involved?"

"I mean, that Clara lass was right. I am the Doctor, much like those other three chums, and much like all the others that came before me. But why am I not acting like one? You've seen it in all our travels, didn't you Rose?"

With a despondent sigh, he leaned back and stared up at the ceiling.

"God, I must be growing complacent and incompetant..."

Rose looked on silently as he raised up his free hand and buried his pained face into it. The words of his immediate successor came back to her mind.

_"It's just a phase... ... Give him time, Rose. Give him a chance."_

Taking that advise to heart, she stepped closer to him.

"It's just a phase, Doctor. You'll get over it," she tried comforting him.

Letting out a short, humorless laugh, the Ninth Doctor drawled, "Phase? Get over it? You think the Time War is just a phase? You think it's just that easy to get past the billions of lives I had to sacrifice to save this damned universe? You stupid apes have the worst counselling advises!"

He then let out a deep sigh.

"Sorry... I just... the impact of it all... it's still gets to me sometimes..." he apologised, his voice sounding a lot more weary and old than it should be, "I guess it's changed me a lot... I mean, I was just so eager to kill that Dalek where it was incapacitated. And then when it had its hatch opened. I had a weapon in my hands for crying out loud!"

The Ninth Doctor readjusted himself and stared down at the green ball.

"Maybe it's time..." he declared depressingly, "Maybe I'm really not him anymore... Maybe the Doctor truly is dead..."

Rose felt her heart begin to beat painfully beneath her chest. Was this how the Doctor really felt about himself all this while?

Granted, she couldn't deny that she would never truly understand what he had probably gone through during the War. But that did not mean that she couldn't still lend him an ear to all of his woes.

Come to think of it, considering how his future selves all reacted earlier, were they still feeling that burden of guilt, or had the pain dulled over the years since?

Nevertheless, all of them came from the Ninth Doctor, and if he continued to be like this, then would time be altered drastically?

Rose understood that changing fixed events was never possible; she already learnt that lesson the hard way with her father.

And then the Tenth Doctor's words hit her again.

_"... I need you. I'll always need you with me."_

And that was the damned truth. The Ninth Doctor, although he never confessed it, had always been quite closer to her than anyone else he had met. And it clearly would have an effect on him going into his next incarnation.

Or _will_ have?

With her final few steps, she took her seat right next to the brooding Time Lord.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe you're not the Doctor you thought you were cut out to be," she stated plainly, which earned her an unamused look from the Ninth Doctor.

"Way to comfort a man, love," he drawled sarcastically.

But then he noticed the look on the blonde's face, and he knew that she wasn't done yet.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she continued, "But the way I see it, that's what makes you so special, Doctor."

Raising an eyebrow at this, the Ninth Doctor questioned, "How so?"

Rose shrugged her shoulders, "Oh I don't know... maybe it's because of the way you saved all those people with the gas masks on. I remember how happy you were when you realised that you could save lives without even taking one."

She noticed a slight quirk of his lips and a gleam in his eyes.

Finally she was getting somewhere!

"And then when you defeated that Slitheen family and we heard what Harriet Jones was talking about hope, you were so full of light and hope for our future, Doctor."

The Ninth Doctor nodded his head, "Yes. I guess I was."

"And speaking of Slitheens, don't forget about Margaret. There were so many ways you could've saved me from her, but of course the TARDIS opened herself up and that swirly thing turned her back into an egg and then there was the time with Charles Dickens and-"

There was an index finger to her lips and she stopped her rambling.

Rose looked back to the Ninth Doctor who now had a gentle smile gracing his features.

"You can stop right there, Rose. I know what you're trying to get at," he said genuinely as he sat up from the chair.

Gazing all around his control room, he lamented, "I admit, I really haven't been the most agreeable and bearable person to you and most everyone else."

He turned around to Rose, "But it's like you said. That's just the way I am. I can be explosive, eccentric, jovial, broody, grouchy, and even friendly at the best of times! And just like before, I can do things no other sentient being can ever do. Throw myself into danger and still come back alive!"

Grinning like a madman, the Ninth Doctor proclaimed, "I'm no ordinary Time Lord, Rose! And I'm just not _the_ Time Lord who survived a war! I am the Doctor! The one and the only! Nobody else! No matter how things get tough or rough, I will still be there to save the day! Never give up, never give in! That's my promise, and one I intend to keep!"

Rose smiled back at his renewed spirit, "Now you're getting it!"

"Woo! I feel like I'm on fire, Rose! No, I feel mighty _fantastic!_ So let's do something fantastic!" the Ninth Doctor cheerfully exclaimed, "Let's go save those folks from those tin cans!"

He raced over to the console and started pushing levers and pressing buttons.

"So where do we start?" Rose asked as she came up beside him.

"We start by finding out where the Daleks' stronghold is! We find it, and we'll find that lass and her friends!"

Just then, the door opened, and stepping in Jack raised a brow at what the Ninth Doctor was doing.

Glancing at him, the Ninth Doctor cheekily asked, "And where've you been Jacky boy?! We've got folks to save and Daleks to stop!"

"Huh?" Jack croaked out confusingly and turned to Rose.

She smiled back at him and assured, "I talked some sense into him. He's gonna help us now."

Nodding his head in understanding, Jack reaffirmed his usual jolly expression and raced over to help the Time Lord with the console.

"What's next, Doc?" he asked.

"Right now I need to rewire the circuitry for our signal scanners! Give 'em a little boost!" the Ninth Doctor said, "Think you can handle it?" "Handle it? I'm all over it!"

As his companions went to work, the Ninth Doctor fired up the time rotor, allowing the groaning and wheezing sound to echo all around the control room again, like always.

Suddenly however, another voice called out, "Oi! What're you lot doing in here, eh?!"

The trio halted in whatever they were doing and they turned around.

To their surprise, the Tenth Doctor was standing by the doorway, a look of shock plastered on his face.

"I-I'm sorry?" the Ninth Doctor asked in confusion.

"I don't know if you care to notice, but this is my TARDIS!" the Tenth Doctor continued hotly, "That other one told me so!"

The Ninth Doctor regarded this with almost little consideration.

"... Right, I'm sorry if you got a little bit confused there. Now if you could please leave, I'm about to take off!"

He went back to manning the controls.

"Doctor!" Martha called from outside, "Anything wrong?"

The Tenth Doctor looked over his shoulder, "Oh, nothing that calls for concern, except for the fact that is MY TARDIS!"

The Ninth Doctor bristled slightly, "I know my TARDIS when I see it, Stick Man."

The Tenth Doctor gaped at that nickname.

"Now go look at the other three, will you! Go on! We were just about to take off when you stepped in and cancelled it!

"Three?! What do you mean three?! There's only two left!"

The Ninth Doctor froze at this. He turned to look at his future self, "What do you mean by that?"

The Tenth Doctor stuck a thumb back to the door, "Go see it for yourself Mr. Grinch."

Frowning softly, the leather-jacket man brushed past him and stepped back outside.

Turning around, his eyes widened gradually as he finally saw what the Tenth Doctor meant.

Originally there were four TARDIS' (including his own) parked beside one another. Now there were _three_ left!

"What...?" he mumbled under his breath in growing surprise.

The Tenth Doctor leaned against the door frame lazily.

"Yes... _What_ indeed...?"

* * *

**FYI:**

**The Ninth Doctor, Rose and Jack are from just after the Series 1 episode Boom Town.**

**The Tenth Doctor, Martha and Donna are from in-between the Series 4 episodes The Poison Sky & The Doctor's Daughter.**

**The Eleventh Doctor and Clara are from after the Series 7 episode The Name of the Doctor but just before The Day of the Doctor special.**

**The Twelfth Doctor, Bill and Nardole are from after the Series 10 episode Thin Ice.**


	3. Chapter 3

Rose, Jack, Martha and Donna stood off to one side together in a group, simply looking on as the two Doctors continued bantering on about the TARDIS. Honestly speaking, the surreal feeling of meeting his other selves were starting to dull slightly from the prolonging boringness.

"Let me get this straight. You kept the coral design? The design _I_ specifically chose for the TARDIS?" the Ninth Doctor questioned his future self, his face scrunched up in sheer disbelief.

"Yup. Didn't see any need to change it," the Tenth Doctor replied with a shrug, "Makes the TARDIS feel a bit more roomy."

"Ah, I see..." the Ninth Doctor replied, like he was truly understood himself, "... so you're lazy."

The Tenth Doctor choked back a gasp. "_L-Lazy?!_"

"Oh come now, don't deny it, chum! Living off the work of someone else? Using the exact same sonic screwdriver?" The Ninth Doctor dangled his sonic in front of his counterpart. "What's next? Copy my exact same hairstyle?"

Behind him, the female companions grimaced slightly. Seeing the Tenth Doctor as he was with his spiked hair, it probably would be harder to view him as bald as the Ninth Doctor.

The Tenth Doctor himself scoffed as this notion. "Now wouldn't that be something, eh? Me? Bald? Too bad I'm already way past _that_ stage."

The Ninth Doctor squinted his eyes as him in doubt, "Oh really? You call this..." He gestured around the coral interior. "... past the stage?"

"At least I try to move on," the Tenth Doctor replied snarkily, "Unlike some people of course..."

Whether that had meant to be an insult or a jab below the belt, Rose could not say. The Ninth Doctor's own taunting expression never faltered.

Just then, the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors walked their way into the coral interior.

"Ah yes. I remember this one!" the Eleventh Doctor acknowledged giddily, "The grunge phase!"

"Coming from soneone who re-designed his own TARDIS after losing Amy and Rory..." the Twelfth Doctor muttered quietly under his breath behind him, soft enough for his past counterpart to not hear it. They both know that was another sensitive topic altogether.

The four Doctors crowded around the console table.

"Alright, while you two were jabbering on about something I think I'm going to remember eventually..." the Twelfth Doctor started speaking, "Flappy Arms and I were analysing all the data from the message our new friend Joan had sent us."

"And what have you found out?" the Ninth Doctor asked.

"Nothing much thus far," the Eleventh Doctor replied, "Highly encrypted, even for the Daleks. Smart aleck that Joan lass. But! We did manage to figure out some coordinates!"

"Not _exactly_ coordinates, but it's the best we've got presently," the Twelfth Doctor finished with a glower sent to his younger self.

And then he paused. "By the way, I noticed that one of the TARDIS' have gone," he stated curiously, "Whatever happened?"

The Ninth Doctor folded his arms, "That's the thing I've been trying to work out with the teenager here."

The Tenth Doctor gawked at him, "Really? You've gone back to calling me-"

"_And_ said-teenager claims that this TARDIS is his. Just as I was about to take off." The Ninth Doctor sent a cheeky grin at his future self, further adding insult to injury.

The Eleventh Doctor stroked his chin, "Hmm... that _is_ a mystery..."

"Which we can worry about later," the Twelfth Doctor stated, "Right now, we get right back on topic with Joan and her lost mates. So are we going to do this, or what?"

The Tenth Doctor shared a glance with the Ninth Doctor.

"Fine. Let's put our heads together and see if four heads are better than two, eh?" the former proposed.

The four Time Lords closed their eyes tightly and concentrated.

"Contact!" they shouted in unison.

A moment of silence followed as the Doctors exchanged information with one another through a psychic link. Which was confusing to those who didn't understand it, especially someone like Donna.

"What are they doin' now?" she wondered aloud.

Jack shrugged his shoulders, "For once... no clue."

"But all things considered, at least their putting their heads together," Rose piped up.

Martha smirked at her, "Literally or technically?"

The blonde smiled back with a shrug, "Still undecided."

"Which kinda makes you wonder if their brains could actually merge together if they wanted to," Jack commented curiously, "Y'know, since they're the same Doc after all."

A few seconds later, and the Doctors snapped their eyes open.

"So we're all in agreement then?" the Ninth Doctor clarified with his other selves.

The answers were a mixed bag.

"Yup."

"Absolutely."

"Kind of."

"Positively."

"Let's get to it!"

"We're probably gonna die out here anyhow..."

And then all of a sudden, the door swung open and charging into the room were Clara and Bill. Both had equally terrified looks on their faces.

"Doctor!" they cried out in unison, "You'd better come quick!"

They paused to look at each other awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, do you want to say it?" Bill offered courteously.

Clara shrugged, "No no! You ran out the door first. You do it."

The Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors took a few steps closer to their companions from the console.

"What happened?" the Twelfth Doctor questioned, in-sync with his counterpart asking, "What's wrong?"

Ultimately Clara decided to speak up.

"You two better come quickly," she stated as plainly and calmly as she could, "Something... has happened..."

Both Doctors eyed one another warily.

"As in...?" the Twelfth Doctor queried, although he had a feeling he knew the answer.

Both Clara and Bill started slinking their way over to the door.

"... It's best you see it for yourself," Bill merely responded before she quickly darted out, Clara following close behind.

Sighing deeply, the Twelfth Doctor started walking out of the coral room, the Eleventh Doctor close at his heels.

Sharing a shrug, the Ninth and Tenth Doctors followed after them, and shortly after their companions as well.

As everyone gathered outside, they caught sight of the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors. Currently, both of them had the same equal reaction as the Ninth Doctor did when he saw that one of the TARDIS' had gone missing.

"My TARDIS... she's disappeared..." the Twelfth Doctor muttered softly in shock.

This was starting to feel a little bit fishy. TARDIS' don't just disappear into thin air! That was, unless she wanted to.

"Where did she go?" The Tenth Doctor wondered aloud.

"I think I know, sir," Nardole called out as he popped his head from another TARDIS. He had a sheepish look on his face.

"But I think you'd better come see for yourself." He disappeared back inside.

Anxiously, everyone all piled into the other TARDIS, to be greeted by a whole newly sdesigned interior. There was not a trace of coral anywhere at all! The console had more literal input devices and instrumentation, as well as a pair of secondary consoles on the railing of the main platform. The room was stark and mechanical, covered in tones of teal and aqua.

Yet still there was something about it all that Rose just couldn't put her finger on. Somehow... it had an overall somber atmosphere as compared to the other TARDIS. But for the Doctors on the other hand, their opinions differed vastly from her own.

"What on Gallifrey is this monstrosity?" the Ninth Doctor gaped in astonishment, "This looks nothing like a control room at all! It feels like some sort of torture chamber or a mental hospital!"

The Eleventh Doctor recoiled back harshly at his words. "Oi! Don't insult the ol' girl like that! I'll have you know I put a lot of work into this!"

"But I improved on it..." the Twelfth Doctor murmured under his breath so no one could hear him.

"Oh... so you decorated...!" the Tenth Doctor acknowledged as he took a gander at the interior design.

A few seconds later and he made a face. "... I don't like it."

The Eleventh Doctor whirled him hotly. "Oh... oh yeah, oh you never do, do you? At least from my point-of-view I can say that the grunge phase is way behind me now!"

The Ninth Doctor eyed him skeptically.

"Right..." he muttered out under his breath, taking another glance at the design that felt much more plain and dull.

The Twelfth Doctor turned over to his companions and asked, "So what's happening over here? I thought you said there was something I needed to see?"

Nardole and Bill shared a look.

"Well... those blinking hexagons of yours... they never did that before..." Bill responded in a slow but awkward tone.

When her Doctor raised a brow at this, she and Nardole simply gestured upwards. To say that he was shocked was an understatement.

"They... never did that before..." the Twelfth Doctor croaked as he continued staring at the hexagons.

Currently they were in the process of blinking in-between dark blue and light green, the latter being the main colour of light for the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS.

Even his past counterpart also could not help but stared in befuddlement at this phenomenon.

Behind them, the Tenth Doctor stroked his chin, as though he was thinking of something before he whipped out his sonic screwdriver. He waved the buzzing device around the control room for a couple of seconds, which did not go unnoticed by the rest.

"What're you playing at, chum?" the Ninth Doctor inquired curiously.

The Tenth Doctor shrugged his shoulders, "Call it a hunch. I think there's more going on than we're realising..."

"Well you better not tamper with any of her systems," the Twelfth Doctor warned cautiously, "I've put a lot of hard work into this place."

"And by that you mean me, right?" the Eleventh Doctor preened at him.

The Twelfth Doctor regarded him incredulously for a short second before he expressed a forced grin.

"Why yes! _O__f course_ I meant you!" He clapped his hands together, albeit with a bit of force to his dramatics. "Who else could I be referring to? Why, it's not like I spent five months in the Time Vortex _refurbishing_ everything and _redesigning_ the interiors a little while you simply switched the desktop theme or anything!"

The Eleventh Doctor grinned even wider at this acknowledgement, failing to hear the sarcasm practically dripping from his future self's voice.

When he was done, the Tenth Doctor raised his sonic up to his ear like a phone. He listened intently to all the info being bleeped out like a telegram.

His face frowned slightly.

"I see... Of course..." he muttered out softly, acting rather troubled by what data he had gathered.

"What's the matter, Doctor?" Martha asked him anxiously, "What've you discovered."

He slowly turned around to face the others, allowing them to see the paleness dull the colours on his face.

"... Could I... speak with my other selves for a moment?" he requested timidly, "Alone?"

The companions eyed him in confusion then glanced at one another.

Noticing their hesitance, the Ninth Doctor urged them, "Just go wait outside. Hopefully this shouldn't take long."

Rose looked at him, reluctance shown in her eyes.

Eventually, she sighed out, "It better not."

Signalling Jack, they both stepped outside first. Soon afterwards, Martha and Donna headed out. Followed by Clara and finally Bill and Nardole.

Once the door snapped shut behind them, the Tenth Doctor addressed his other selves. He breathed in deeply.

"Our TARDIS' have merged."

"WHAT?!" the other Doctors exclaimed in shock, but he nodded his head in confirmation.

"Oh yup..."

The Ninth Doctor raked a hand through his hair. "So what happened with the "My TARDIS" debacle... that could only mean..."

The Tenth Doctor nodded again, "YYYYYup..." He popped the P for dramatic effect.

The Eleventh Doctor groaned out loud, "Great! Just perfect! Now I have to share my TARDIS with Big Brows 'ere!"

"Correction, it's MY TARDIS too!" the Twelfth Doctor stated, "And trust me when I say that I'm not going to like this anymore than you do!"

"And the same can be said on our end," the Ninth Doctor said as the Tenth Doctor nodded in agreement.

Eyeing his future counterpart, the Ninth Doctor queried, "So what happened that caused this?"

The Tenth Doctor shoved a hand into his pocket and used the other to scratch behind his ear.

"Well, from what I can gather, our TARDIS' all recognised one another based on the design codes for our control rooms," he explained as he shuffled around, "And since our control rooms share similar desktop themes, like Broody Man's and my own, they became decidedly compatible for a... union of sorts..."

The Ninth Doctor placed his hands on his hips, "So what, they merged to become a new entity?"

"Not exactly..." the Tenth Doctor stated slowly, "While they _are _merged, they still retain components from our separate ships. Even I don't know how that works..."

"And how's that not causing any sort of tears in the fabric of reality already?" the Twelfth Doctor questioned seriously, "I mean, this isn't the first time it's happened but don't get me started on Celery Man."

"Or Mr Recorder, or Akido Wise Man," the Eleventh Doctor.

The Tenth Doctor rubbed his neck, "Again, I don't know how it came to be like this. It could either be a time differential law that we haven't been aware of until now, or the TARDIS' sustaining a very large paradox, or some unknown force causing our ships to behave in this manner. Could be either of them, or something else entirely."

The Ninth Doctor sighed, "Fantastic... So what do we do now? How're we supposed to find those Daleks when our police boxes are stuck together?"

The Tenth Doctor hummed quietly to himself and tapped a finger on his chin. "Well, the way I see things. Because of the merging part, we now only have two TARDIS' left - well, three if you count that other one. But considering the unusual predicament we've gotten ourselves into... well..."

The Twelfth Doctor started to understand what he was getting at.

"You're proposing two teams for this," he declared.

The Tenth Doctor rubbed his neck sheepishly, "Eh, I wouldn't put it that far, considering the risks involved if we're close together for too long, but yes. We team up."

The proposal prompted a silent exchange of glances between the different incarnations of the Time Lord. Truthfully, deep down inside, they all didn't like each other. Some had personal gripes with certain incidents they had instigated as past versions, whilst the past versions themselves were not too keen as to knowing who they would eventually become. And yet considering the situation they were in, as well as the fact that their TARDIS' have merged together, they might not have much of a choice.

With a reluctant sigh, the Twelfth Doctor groused, "Well... I suppose it wouldn't _kill_ me that much to work alongside Flappy Arms for a while..."

"Oi!" the Eleventh Doctor spun at him, annoyed as usual by his mockery.

The Tenth Doctor turned to face his past self.

"And how about you, Mr Grinch?" he asked, "You up for a little buddy mission?"

The Ninth Doctor furrowed his brows slightly as he remained deep in thought about this.

Eventually he sighed out, "Fine. But as long as we agree not to prolong this as much as possible. Four versions of us in the same time period raises the chances of some nasty anomalies occuring."

"Yes, that's true," the Eleventh Doctor concurred with a nod.

"But that does not mean that we are co-pilots," the Ninth Doctor then strictly told the Tenth Doctor, "My TARDIS. My rules. You got that?"

"Oi! She's mine too, you know!" the Tenth Doctor snapped back in bewilderment.

"Nice try chum, but that isn't going to snuff out the millions of issues I have with your copycat skills."

And without another word, the Ninth Doctor turned and stalked off towards the door. The Tenth Doctor simply gaping in disbelief at the lecture he'd just been given.

Opening up the door slightly, the Ninth Doctor stuck out his head to acknowledge all the companions standing outside. "Meeting's adjourned ladies and gentlemen! Come on!"

He led all the humans back inside the TARDIS.

"So what happens now?" Clara asked the Doctors, "You have a plan?"

"Um... roughly..." the Tenth Doctor muttered with a mild shrug, "Maybe about 20 percent of the makings of one...?"

"The first thing we've got to do is find that secret Dalek base," the Eleventh Doctor said, "God knows how long that'll take, seeing as it would take some time for us to readjust to any reconfigurations with our TARDIS' matrices. Of course, we still won't know until we give them a good ol' spin first. Anyone fancy a trip 'round Betelgeuse? Free of charge!"

"I'd fancy that offer Doc!" Jack replied sprightly.

The Twelfth Doctor rubbed his temples exasperated.

"Getting back to the point..." he brought everyone back to speed, "We find the base first, then work out what's our next course of action before we infiltrate it."

"And that means full coordination and absolute cooperation from everyone in this room," the Ninth Doctor stated gravelly, "The Daleks are a very dangerous race of warriors. We have to be on our toes at all times. And that means no monkeying or wittering about."

He sent a pointed look to both Jack and the Eleventh Doctor, as if to say "Especially you two".

"Any questions you lot?" he then asked the rest.

"So wait, do you guys actually have a plan to sneak into the base?" Martha asked anxiously, "Because our strategy so far feels kind of blunt and vague."

"That is why I said that we'll think of something once we've located it," the Tenth Doctor replied with his hands inside his pockets, "One does not simply sneak into a Dalek stronghold and not have a solution to come back out alive."

The Ninth Doctor nodded his head in agreement. For once they agreed on something that was logical to a Time Lord.

"Then what the hell are we waiting for then?" Donna suddenly spoke up, "Come on then!"

She turned and started marching out of the doorway, unaware of the multiple eyes that were on her as she exited.

"Feisty that one," the Ninth Doctor noted to the Tenth Doctor, "Wherever did you pick her up from?"

His future self shrugged, "Chiswick. And she can be also as cranky as when she missed her own wedding."

The Ninth Doctor eyed him skeptically, "And I suppose you had something to do with that?"

The Tenth Doctor shrugged again, this time in a bit more awkward fashion.

"... Maybe..."

He still remembered the time when he had just met her after the fiasco that was Doomsday. He was so caught up in grief and then caught suddenly off-guard and stunned by her sudden appearance and outburst a second later that he barely had time to process all the events that happened afterward.

"Alright, come on you lot! Let's get this show on the road, shall we?" the Eleventh Doctor exclaimed giddily from behind them, "Out! Out you go! I have to fire the ol' girl up and all!"

At his urging, several companions began filing out of the control room. All of them were notably unaccustomed to this TARDIS.

The Tenth Doctor however caught sight of one particular redhead subtly walking closer to Jack's side as they exited. He frowned slightly in disapproval at this, even though she couldn't see it. He had better keep a close watch on Donna whenever Jack Harkness was around. One chemical mixing with another tend to lead to explosive results.

"Well then, we better get started," the Twelfth Doctor declared as he walked over to the controls and started pushing buttons.

Seeing this, the Eleventh Doctor paled slightly as he ran over to the opposite side.

"Whoa whoa! Watch how you handle those controls, Doctor!" he exclaimed hastily as he flipped switches on his end, "The ol' girl tends to be a bit rough around the edges!"

The Ninth Doctor briefly watched the interaction with mild amusement before he turned and headed towards the door.

"C'mon Stick Man! Let's leave these two to their business!" he called out to the Tenth Doctor over his shoulder, "I've still got some things to settle to you!"

The Tenth Doctor shook his head with a sigh.

"... Why do I have the feeling that's not going away anytime soon..." he griped under his breath as he turned on his heels and stalked after his past self.

As soon as the door was closed, everyone else that remained behind included Clara, Bill and Nardole.

"Well, since we're going to be working together for a while..." Bill started speaking to the other two companions, "... might as well we get to know a bit more about ourselves."

Clara shrugged her shoulders, "I don't mind actually. It's one thing to meet new strangers. But it's another to meet other companions of the Doctor."

"Especially if some of them are quite the curious lot," Nardole finished thoughtfully.

"You three can mingle with each other on the way to our destination," came the snappy tone of the Twelfth Doctor as he was typing down some data on the monitor screen, "For now though, would you mind helping us prep for launch?"

"Not that I really want you lot to mingle like a couple on honeymoon, but even with two Doctors there's only so much we can do on this beauty of a console," the Eleventh Doctor pranced as he swept right by them and flipped a lever with a flourish of his hand.

Nardole shrugged in meek agreement. Turning to the ladies he suggested, "Well, best we get right to it, eh? Business as usual."

He and Bill headed right up to the console, and he quickly joined by the side of the Twelfth Doctor, ready to help him out with anything that he required.

Meanwhile Clara headed over to her Doctor's side.

"So um, Doctor?" Clara queried with him, "Just a bit curious and all but uh, considering that your other past selves are here... do you remember doing this at all?"

The Eleventh Doctor paused.

"Well, truth be told my mind's still a little foggy on the details, BUT I do feel a bit tangy about a déjà vu coming on."

"Which will be a moot point in the long run," the Twelfth Doctor stated pointedly from his end, "Once this is all over, we return to our own points of our timeline, and you and those other two has-beens will lose your memories. I, on the other hand, will remember this for all time to come since I am the oldest Doctor here."

The Eleventh Doctor bristled, "Oh please! I'm sure you would love to brush aside all this just so you can get back to whatever you're doing with your companions there! Where's your sense of adventure, eh?"

The Twelfth Doctor frowned at him, "Oh I do have a sense! A sense that's telling me that being stuck here with wittering ol' you, Doctor Flappy Arms, is going to drive me up a wall sooner or later!"

The Eleventh Doctor looked as though he was about to fire back with another quippy remark, but then Clara stepped in between both men.

"Come on, Doctors! That's enough now! Arguing is not going to get us anywhere!" she reprimanded them like students in one of her classes, "Right now, the others are probably waiting for us to set off! Hell, they've probably already took off without us! So here's my question to you two: Can we all at least get along for now?"

The Doctors eyed one another in a staring contest, while allowing her words to sink in proper. After while, they both let out a sigh.

"Fine..." the Twelfth Doctor grumbled softly.

"Of course..." the Eleventh Doctor relented reluctantly, "But that still doesn't dispute the fact that I owned this design first. So with that said..."

"I think we should stop jabbering about like primates and just stick to our current objective," the Twelfth Doctor asserted authortitatively as he strode over to the monitor.

As his past counterpart continued staring at him in utter disbelief that he had been upstaged in authority, Clara could not help but think to herself. _"This is going to be a _hell_ of a long adventure..."_

* * *

As they strode along into the coral control room, Rose mused to herself, "I wonder if the rides are going to be bumpier."

"Oh you'd be surprised," Donna commented, "I nearly threw up my lunch once when Space Man took me to that fancy restaurant on future Europa."

"I think that pales in comparison when he took me on my first trip to meet William Shakespeare," Martha reminisced with a shudder, "I think I almost broke my tailbone."

She then looked to Rose, "So what about you? Where did the Doctor first take you?"

A crestfallen look befell the blonde for a brief second before she responded, "... the very end of the world. The Doctor took me there and we were aboard this alien cruise ship where every alien aboard was witnessing Earth's destruction."

Silence fell across the control room.

"But then along came Cassandra, the very last human in the Universe. She wanted to destroy everyone on the ship but we stopped her... but not in time to see the swelling Sun destroy..."

She didn't dare finish the sentence as she closed her eyes to fight off the tears. It had been quite a while since that life-changing experience, and it had a profound effect on her.

She could still remember the pain and grief she had went through, seeing the rubble that had once been part of Earth flying around the Sun that would eventually become a Red Giant. But she also couldn't forget about the Doctor. Her Doctor. The one who stood by her side and took her by the hand. He shared in her pain and he too shared the experience he had been through when he mentioned that he lost Gallifrey to a war with the Daleks.

Feeling sorry about her emotional state, Martha stepped over to give Rose a comforting hug. A few seconds later and Donna joined in. Jack suddenly felt awkward that the whole scenario had became a women thing, but considering that he too was friends was Rose, he knew that he needed to help out too.

Cautiously stepping over, he reached over and gave the sobbing blonde a gentle pat on the shoulder. It felt kind of awkward, especially considering his current position outside of the hugging group.

Just then, the Ninth and Tenth Doctors strode right into the TARDIS. Both were completely unaware of what was happening.

"... that said, I still intend to find out if that box belongs to that Joan lass," the former stated plainly as he brushed past the companions on his way to the console.

The Tenth Doctor closed the door behind him. "I know. But it still doesn't feel right though. Leaving a TARDIS out there all by her lonesome."

Removing his duster coat, he tossed it aside with a flourish onto the closest branch column. Then straightening out his suit, he sauntered over to the console, casting a sorrowful glance at Rose on his way.

"Oh, we shouldn't give that much thought," the Ninth Doctor said dismissively, "I shut down all her components. She shouldn't be wasting unnecessary power unless she needs to."

"Or if she wants too," the Tenth Doctor added, "Can't ever forget about that."

The Ninth Doctor grimaced slightly, "... I suppose, but she's generally well-behaved."

A bleeping sound was heard. "You're welcome!" both Time Lords replied back chirpily then casted a stare at one another.

From her place as the central figure being hugged, Rose made a small giggle and wiped her tears from her face. Somehow, she had a feeling she was going to get a lot more of these amusing interactions between the Doctors before they parted ways.

Taking notice of her lightening mood, the other companions let go of her and exchanged encouraging smiles with her. They then all proceeded to walk right over to the console.

With all of them encircled around the controls, Martha asked the Doctors, "So what now, Doctors? What about this whole TARDIS debacle?"

The Tenth Doctor shrugged, "Well, I'd hate to alarm you lot, but our TARDIS' have merged."

"I-I'm sorry, but what?" Rose asked and leaned in closer with an incredulous stare.

"You heard 'im, Rose. Our TARDIS' have joined together," the Ninth Doctor explained to her, "Not sure what's causing it though. Normally something like this would risk tearing a hole in the fabric of reality."

Donna huffed, "Not very _assuring_ news, ain't it?"

The Tenth Doctor looked to her, "Yes, it's generally very terrible news, but if this was like any normal circumstance, we'd all be dead by now unless I fixed it first."

The Ninth Doctor eyed his future self curiously. "Really? And what, pray tell, happened?"

The Tenth Doctor looked sheepish, "Yeah um... remember when Eye Brows mentioned about Celery Man?"

"Yes?"

"Well... let's just say that somewhere down the line, you're gonna have a stroll down memory lane."

"Did he acknowledge you as a fan upon first glance?"

"... What makes you think that...?"

"Call it a lucky guess, or just bits of my memory coming back."

Rose rolled her eyes and snapped, "Doctors!"

They were severely off-topic now.

The Tenth Doctor became sheepish, "R-Right, s-sorry Rose..."

He brisked right over to the second monitor across the console, "With that being said, somehow, reality hasn't started to rip yet, but I'd hate to take any sort of nasty chances."

"But if there's even a one percent chance of it occuring, Stick Man and I will take care of it," the Ninth Doctor finished, "Which is better than I could say for Jelly Bones and the Magician."

_"Oi! I know you're supposed to be the Fantastic Doctor and all, but that's just plain rude!"_ the Eleventh Doctor's voice exclaimed in an offended tone from the main monitor.

This prompted everyone to huddle around it just to get a good view of the man's youthful face.

The Ninth Doctor grinned tauntingly, "Ah, there you are Jelly Bones! All pumped up and ready to go on your end?"

The Eleventh Doctor stared at him, _"We've had a few... kinks to work out over here, but yes we're all set to go now."_

_"Just say the word,"_ the Twelfth Doctor called in, his face appearing on the second monitor where the Tenth Doctor was, _"At least all that bumping around later will help me take my mind off of Flappy Arms over there."_

The Eleventh Doctor turned over to his future counterpart and made a pouty face.

Martha and Jack went over to the Tenth Doctor's side, while Donna and Rose stayed with the Ninth Doctor. From the other merged TARDIS, Clara was with the Eleventh Doctor whilst Bill stayed by the Twelfth Doctor. Nardole was left as the only person manning the console.

"So how should we do this?" the Tenth Doctor asked, "Split up? Each box takes one half of Desdemona?"

"Easy and more effective," the Eleventh Doctor noted.

"Cover much more ground," the Twelfth Doctor stated.

"And widen our search parameters," the Ninth Doctor finished.

There was a pragmatic pause.

"Okay, does anyone else feel weird that we keep doing that all the time?" The Eleventh Doctor with a slight shudder.

The Tenth Doctor scratched his ear, "Eh, we're the same Time Lord. It can't be helped."

"But it always comes back everytime one us starts a long speech," the Twelfth Doctor pointed out.

"Like we know what the rest of us is going to say," the Ninth Doctor mused.

They all shook the thought off moments later.

"Anyways, let's get right on it!" the Ninth Doctor said and he rushed over to the controls.

"Allons-y!" the Tenth Doctor crowed as he followed after his predecessor.

From their end, the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors resumed prepping for take-off.

The next few minutes were a frenzy, the four Doctors worked tirelessly to sort out everything, from the wires, to the controls, all the way to their companions. Some of them especially Jack and Nardole were allowed to help pilot the TARDIS'. The rest that included Rose, Clara, Bill, Donna and Martha were all forced to hang back, although they were eagerly ready should the Time Lord require any additional assistance.

Finally, with all their systems checked out, the Tenth Doctor exclaimed, "Alright ladies and gentlemen! Initiate take-off sequences!"

He reached for the lever that would set the TARDIS into flight but then a strong hand grabbed his wrist. His smile fading a little, he turned and exchanged a glance with the Ninth Doctor, a frown plastered on his features.

Like a reprimanded child, he reluctant relinquished control and backed away, watching with a scowl as his past self took his place.

"On my count!" he announced, and the Twelfth Doctor nodded from the console.

Apparently he too had gained control over his TARDIS' power lever after intimidating the Eleventh Doctor with his brows.

"One!"

The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors gestured for everyone to hang onto something.

"Two!"

The Ninth Doctor's hand twitched slightly around the lever.

"Three!"

The levers were thrown and the TARDIS' lurched. All the companions struggled to keep their balance as the Doctors began scrambling around to keep the police boxes in their control.

"Well isn't this dandy?" the Ninth Doctor griped, "My flights are more stable than this!"

"Oi! Don't pin this one on me Doctor! She does that sometimes!" the Tenth Doctor retorted verbally as if he was expecting another finger point being directed at him.

_"Best of luck boys! See you all in a jiff!"_ the Eleventh Doctor exclaimed giddily.

The Twelfth Doctor glared at him, _"Will you stop monkeying about and help me with this?!" _

_"Don't get your brows in a twist, you! I'm doing the best I can!" _

_"And dancing about like a drunk ballerina is doing your best?!" _

_"I can't help it! It's part of my current getup!" _

_"Oh shuttity up! Don't start with that again!"_

Rose gulped down a lump in her throat as she watched the Doctors continue to argue. Two of them were right in front of her flying the ship akin to how two kids were fighting over a toy. The other two had taken their fight off-screen somewhere.

She scrambled over to one of the monitors where one of the other companions was on-screen.

"Life of a party eh?" she asked the companion, "This thing happen to you before?"

_"... I've experienced worse things..."_ Clara replied with a shrug, _"Compare this with keeping rowdy students in line on your first day." _

Rose grimaced, "I can imagine that."

Eyeing the bickering Doctors one more time, she then commented wryly, _"This is gonna be a long trip." _

Clara smiled weakly, _"Feeling's mutual."_

* * *

**Okay, I think we can agree at this point that the Doctors all hate each other with a passion.**


End file.
